Detection of Mobile Device Location Within Vehicle Using Vehicle Based Data and Mobile Device Based Data

ABSTRACT

One or more location analysis computing devices and methods are disclosed herein for determining the position of a mobile device (smartphone, tablet computer) within an interior of a vehicle. The position of the mobile device may be calculated by detecting changes in accelerometer data. The accelerometer data may first need to be translated to determine corresponding axes, since the device may not be right side up (e.g., in a pocket). The vehicle may travel over road discontinuities such as bumps, and calculating the position of the mobile device may be based on the different magnitude and angle resulting from a first tire and a second tire hitting the bump. Data from vehicle sensors or other mobile device sensors may also be used in the calculating. Once the position is determined, commands may be sent to the mobile device to deactivate certain functionality, or to a remote server for further processing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

his application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/066,406 filed Mar. 10, 2016, and entitled“Detection of Mobile Device Location Within Vehicle Using Vehicle BasedData and Mobile Device Based Data,” the content of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the disclosure generally relate to the analysis of vehicledata and accelerometer data. In particular, various aspects of thedisclosure relate to receiving and transmitting vehicular data andaccelerometer data and analyzing the data to detect an approximatelocation of an accelerometer within the vehicle.

BACKGROUND

The combined operation of vehicles and mobile devices creates manyconcerns and challenges. Driving a vehicle while operating a mobiledevice creates hazardous and unsafe conditions for the driver, for theirpassengers, and for the public. Even “hands-free” modes where the driverdoes not physically interact with the mobile device have, in someresearch, been shown to create distracted driving situations. Althoughmany people are aware of the negatives of using a mobile device whiledriving, various psychological, societal, and behavioral factors playinto continued operation of mobile devices while driving, even injurisdictions where the operation of hand-held mobile devices whiledriving has been outlawed.

Given that individual users require more than mere willpower todiscontinue the usage of their mobile devices while driving, technicalsolutions have been proposed to identify situations in which a mobiledevice is being operated within a moving vehicle. Mobile devices such assmartphones, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, and thelike, may include movement sensors, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope,speedometer, and/or Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, capableof detecting movement. Previously proposed solutions largely haveinvolved processing accelerometer data from the accelerometer onboardthe mobile device and/or data from a geolocation service (e.g., GPS).From this data, excessive movement or velocity may indicate the mobiledevice is being operated in a vehicle, and functionality of the mobiledevice may be disabled or notifications may be presented to the userwarning them to discontinue operation of the mobile device while thevehicle is in motion. As may be expected, these solutions have yet to bewidely implemented, because they do not address a side consideration ofthe permissible use of a mobile device by a non-driver. In other words,these proposed solutions cut off or restrict usage by passengers, whoshould be free to operate a mobile device within the vehicle withoutconstant reminders or limited functionality.

Additionally, in some situations, it may be advantageous or beneficialto the vehicular occupants to enable full operation of the mobiledevice. As discussed above, a passenger may be operating the mobiledevice, and repeated notifications may be annoying. As another example,a user may be using a mobile device as a navigational aid, and thedisabling of functionality may cause more harm than good as the user maybecome distracted if their route guidance is suspended or terminated.

Separately, many vehicles include sophisticated sensors and advancedinternal computer systems designed to monitor and control vehicleoperations and driving functions. Vehicle-based computer systems, suchas on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems and telematics devices, may beused in automobiles and other vehicles, and may be capable of collectingvarious driving data and vehicle sensor data. For example, OBD systemsmay receive information from the vehicle's on-board computers andsensors in order to monitor a wide variety of information relating tothe vehicle systems, such as engine RPM, emissions control, vehiclespeed, throttle position, acceleration and braking rates, use of drivercontrols, etc. Vehicles may also include Global Positioning System (GPS)receivers and devices installed within or operating at the vehicleconfigured to collect vehicle location and time data.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not anextensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identifykey or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofthe disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts ofthe disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the descriptionbelow.

An advantageous solution to the problems presented above, and otherissues which will be apparent upon the reading of the presentdisclosure, may be to determine a location of the smartphone within theinterior of the vehicle, and disable device functionality or take otheraction based on the determined location. To do so, it may be desirableto process data received from the sensors of the mobile device (e.g.,the gyroscope of the mobile device, the accelerometer of the mobiledevice) in combination with data received via the OBD system of thevehicle. The OBD system may provide additional information such as thevehicle speed, acceleration and braking rates, and in some vehicles,information such as input from the steering wheel (e.g., the user ismaking a left turn or right turn). Additionally, the OBD system mayprovide accelerometer information from an accelerometer aboard thevehicle other than the accelerometer of the mobile device, if such avehicle-accelerometer is installed as a default option or as apost-market addition. Comparisons between the two accelerometers may beuseful for determining the location of the mobile device within thevehicle.

For example, the vehicle may encounter an imperfection or discontinuityin the road surface (e.g., a bump, pothole, lane marker, or the like). Afront tire of the vehicle may encounter the road-surface discontinuity,and data from the encounter (the jolt felt in the car) may be recordedby the vehicle processor. As an example, a bump in the road may be feltby an accelerometer located at the front wheel (e.g., in the rim) and/orvia an accelerometer fixedly located within the vehicle interior. Thebump may then be recorded by the accelerometer of a mobile devicetraveling within the interior of the vehicle. The differences inmagnitude along each axis of movement between the bumps may assist indetermining the location of the mobile device. In some situations, thevehicle (and the mobile device) may experience the bump again by therear tire encountering the same road surface imperfection. Thisadditional information may be used to calculate further differences inmagnitude along each axis of movement between the vehicle-accelerometerand the device-accelerometer, which also may assist in determining thelocation of the mobile device within the vehicle.

Accordingly, aspects of the disclosure relate to determining, by acomputing device, the approximate location of a mobile device (e.g.,smartphone, tablet) within an interior of a vehicle. For example,aspects of the present disclosure include a location analysis computingdevice which includes a processing unit comprising at least oneprocessor and a memory unit storing computer-executable instructions.The instructions may, when executed by the processing unit, cause thelocation analysis computing device to receive first mobile device sensordata collected by mobile device sensors of a mobile device locatedwithin a vehicle. The sensor data may include X-axis accelerometer data,Y-axis accelerometer data, and Z-axis accelerometer data in the firstmobile device's reference frame. The processing unit may translate thefirst mobile device sensor data into X-axis accelerometer data, Y-axisaccelerometer data, and Z-axis accelerometer data in the vehicle'sreference frame. Based on the translated data, the processing unit maydetect a first occurrence of an event (such as a tire of the vehiclehitting a bump). Detecting the event may include determining that achange in magnitude of the vehicle-frame Z-axis accelerometer dataexceeds a predetermined threshold. The processing unit may calculate afirst event vector comprising a first event magnitude and a first eventangle based on the detected event, determine a position of the mobiledevice within the vehicle based on the calculated first event vector.

In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, a methoddisclosed herein includes receiving first mobile device sensor datacollected by mobile device sensors of a mobile device located within avehicle, the first mobile device sensor data including first-axisaccelerometer data, second-axis accelerometer data, and third-axisaccelerometer data. The method may include translating the first mobiledevice sensor data into X-axis accelerometer data, Y-axis accelerometerdata, and Z-axis accelerometer data, resulting in translated data. Themethod may include detecting, by a computing device, a first occurrenceof an event in the translated data, wherein detecting the eventcomprises determining that a change in magnitude of the Z-axisaccelerometer data exceeds a predetermined threshold. The computingdevice may calculate a first event vector comprising a first eventmagnitude and a first event angle based on the detected event anddetermine a position of the mobile device within the vehicle based onthe calculated first event vector.

In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, a locationanalysis apparatus may be provided. The location analysis apparatus mayinclude a processing unit comprising at least one processor and a memoryunit storing computer-executable instructions. The instructions may,when executed by the processing unit, cause the location analysiscomputing device to receive first vehicle sensor data collected bysensors of a vehicle. The first vehicle sensor data may includefirst-axis accelerometer data, second-axis accelerometer data, andthird-axis accelerometer data. The processing unit may translate thevehicle sensor data into X-axis accelerometer data, Y-axis accelerometerdata, and Z-axis accelerometer data, and may detect a first occurrenceof an event in the translated data. Detecting the event may includedetermining a change in magnitude of the Z-axis accelerometer dataexceeds a predetermined threshold. The processing unit may receivemobile device sensor data collected by mobile device sensors of a mobiledevice located within the vehicle, which may include furtheraccelerometer data. The processing unit may calculate a first eventvector comprising a first event magnitude and a first event angle basedon the detected event and a second event vector comprising a secondevent magnitude and a second event angle based on the furtheraccelerometer data. Based on the calculated first event vector andsecond event vector, the processing unit may determine a position of themobile device within the vehicle.

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent fromthe additional description provided herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment and computing systems that maybe used to implement aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating various components and devices of adevice location and configuration system, according to one or moreaspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate various aspects of vehicles and devicestherein as they encounter road discontinuities (e.g., bumps), which maybe analyzed according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates various aspects of force vectors encountered byvehicles and devices therein as they encounter bumps, which may beanalyzed according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate various aspects of vehicles and devicestherein as they encounter bumps at speed, which may be analyzedaccording to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5C illustrates various aspects of graphed data resulting from avehicular encounter with a bump, which may be analyzed according to oneor more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A and 6B together illustrate one example method of estimating aposition of a mobile device within an interior of a vehicle, accordingto one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate user interfaces according to one or moreaspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 8A and 8B together illustrate another example method of estimatinga position of a mobile device within an interior of a vehicle, accordingto one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration, various embodiments of thedisclosure that may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art upon reading thefollowing disclosure, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a method, a specially-programmed computer system, or a computerprogram product. Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of anentirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, suchaspects may take the form of a computer program product stored by one ormore computer-readable storage media having computer-readable programcode, or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various signals representing data orevents as described herein may be transferred between a source and adestination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling throughsignal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/orwireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile device locating computingdevice 101 in a mobile device location and configuration system 100 thatmay be used according to one or more illustrative embodiments of thedisclosure. The mobile device locating computing device 101 may have aprocessor 103 for controlling overall operation of the mobile devicelocating computing device 101 and its associated components, includingRAM 105, ROM 107, input/output module 109, and memory 115. The computingdevice 101, along with one or more additional devices (e.g., terminals141, 151) may correspond to any of multiple systems or devices, such asmobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones, smart terminals, tablets,and the like) and vehicular-based computing devices, configured asdescribed herein for transmitting and receiving mobile-device-originateddata, and vehicle-originated-data.

Input/Output (I/O) 109 may include a microphone, keypad, touch screen,and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device 101 mayprovide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual and/or graphical output. Software may be stored withinmemory 115 and/or storage to provide instructions to processor 103 forenabling device 101 to perform various functions. For example, memory115 may store software used by the mobile device locating computingdevice 101, such as an operating system 117, application programs 119,and an associated internal database 121. Processor 103 and itsassociated components may allow the computing device 101 to execute aseries of computer-readable instructions to transmit or receive vehicledriving data, analyze driving data and identify driving behaviors ordriving actions.

The mobile device locating computing device 101 may operate in anetworked environment supporting connections to one or more remotecomputers, such as terminals/devices 141 and 151. Mobile device locatingcomputing device 101, and related terminals/devices 141 and 151, mayinclude devices installed in vehicles, mobile devices that may travelwithin vehicles, or devices outside of vehicles that are configured toreceive and process vehicle and driving data. Thus, the mobile devicelocating computing device 101 and terminals/devices 141 and 151 may eachinclude personal computers (e.g., laptop, desktop, or tablet computers),servers (e.g., web servers, database servers), vehicle-based devices(e.g., on-board vehicle computers, short-range vehicle communicationsystems, telematics devices), or mobile communication devices (e.g.,mobile phones, portable computing devices, and the like), and mayinclude some or all of the elements described above with respect to thecomputing device 101.

The network connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network(LAN) 125 and a wide area network (WAN) 129, and a wirelesstelecommunications network 133, but may also include other networks.When used in a LAN networking environment, the mobile device locatingcomputing device 101 may be connected to the LAN 125 through a networkinterface or adapter 123. When used in a WAN networking environment, themobile device locating computing device 101 may include a modem 127 orother means for establishing communications over the WAN 129, such asnetwork 131 (e.g., the Internet). When used in a wirelesstelecommunications network 133, the mobile device locating computingdevice 101 may include one or more transceivers, digital signalprocessors, and additional circuitry and software for communicating withwireless computing devices 141 (e.g., mobile phones, short-range vehiclecommunication systems, vehicle telematics devices) via one or morenetwork devices 135 (e.g., base transceiver stations) in the wirelessnetwork 133. It will be appreciated that the network connections shownare illustrative and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used. The existence of any of variousnetwork protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, andof various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi,and WiMAX, is presumed, and the various computing devices and mobiledevice location and configuration system components described herein maybe configured to communicate using any of these network protocols ortechnologies.

Also illustrated in FIG. 1 is a security and integration layer 160,through which communications may be sent and managed between the device101 (e.g., a user's personal mobile device, a vehicle-based system,external server, etc.) and the remote devices (141 and 151) and remotenetworks (125, 129, and 133). The security and integration layer 160 maycomprise one or more separate computing devices, such as web servers,authentication servers, and/or various networking components (e.g.,firewalls, routers, gateways, load balancers, etc.), having some or allof the elements described above with respect to the mobile devicelocating computing device 101. As an example, a security and integrationlayer 160 of a mobile computing device, vehicle-based device, or aserver operated by an insurance provider, financial institution,governmental entity, or other organization, may comprise a set of webapplication servers configured to use secure protocols and to insulatethe server 101 from external devices 141 and 151. In some cases, thesecurity and integration layer 160 may correspond to a set of dedicatedhardware and/or software operating at the same physical location andunder the control of same entities as mobile device locating computingdevice 101. For example, layer 160 may correspond to one or morededicated web servers and network hardware in an organizationaldatacenter or in a cloud infrastructure supporting a cloud-based mobiledevice location and configuration system. In other examples, thesecurity and integration layer 160 may correspond to separate hardwareand software components which may be operated at a separate physicallocation and/or by a separate entity.

As discussed below, the data transferred to and from various devices indevice location and configuration system 100 may include secure andsensitive data, such as driving data, driving locations, vehicle data,and confidential individual data such as insurance data and medical dataassociated with vehicle occupants. In at least some examples,transmission of the data may be performed based on one or more userpermissions provided. Therefore, it may be desirable to protecttransmissions of such data by using secure network protocols andencryption, and also to protect the integrity of the data when stored onin a database or other storage in a mobile device, analysis server, orother computing devices in the device location and configuration system100, by using the security and integration layer 160 to authenticateusers and restrict access to unknown or unauthorized users. In variousimplementations, security and integration layer 160 may provide, forexample, a file-based integration scheme or a service-based integrationscheme for transmitting data between the various devices in the mobiledevice location and configuration system 100. Data may be transmittedthrough the security and integration layer 160, using various networkcommunication protocols. Secure data transmission protocols and/orencryption may be used in file transfers to protect to integrity of thedriving data, for example, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure FileTransfer Protocol (SFTP), and/or Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption.

In other examples, one or more web services may be implemented withinthe various mobile device locating computing devices 101 in the devicelocation and configuration system 100 and/or the security andintegration layer 160. The web services may be accessed by authorizedexternal devices and users to support input, extraction, andmanipulation of the data (e.g., driving data, location data,confidential personal data, etc.) between the various mobile devicelocating computing devices 101 in the device location and configurationsystem 100. Web services built to support the device location andconfiguration system 100 may be cross-domain and/or cross-platform, andmay be built for enterprise use. Such web services may be developed inaccordance with various web service standards, such as the Web ServiceInteroperability (WS-I) guidelines. In some examples, a movement dataand/or driving data web service may be implemented in the security andintegration layer 160 using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or TransportLayer Security (TLS) protocol to provide secure connections betweenservers (e.g., mobile device locating computing devices 101) and variousclients 141 and 151 (e.g., mobile devices, data analysis servers, etc.).SSL or TLS may use HTTP or HTTPS to provide authentication andconfidentiality.

In other examples, such web services may be implemented using theWS-Security standard, which provides for secure SOAP messages using XMLencryption. In still other examples, the security and integration layer160 may include specialized hardware for providing secure web services.For example, secure network appliances in the security and integrationlayer 160 may include built-in features such as hardware-accelerated SSLand HTTPS, WS-Security, and firewalls. Such specialized hardware may beinstalled and configured in the security and integration layer 160 infront of the web servers, so that any external devices may communicatedirectly with the specialized hardware.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, various elements within memory 115 orother components in device location and configuration system 100, mayinclude one or more caches, for example, CPU caches used by theprocessing unit 103, page caches used by the operating system 117, diskcaches of a hard drive, and/or database caches used to cache contentfrom database 121. For embodiments including a CPU cache, the CPU cachemay be used by one or more processors in the processing unit 103 toreduce memory latency and access time. In such examples, a processor 103may retrieve data from or write data to the CPU cache rather thanreading/writing to memory 115, which may improve the speed of theseoperations. In some examples, a database cache may be created in whichcertain data from a database 121 (e.g., a driving database, a vehicledatabase, insurance customer database, etc.) is cached in a separatesmaller database on an application server separate from the databaseserver. For instance, in a multi-tiered application, a database cache onan application server can reduce data retrieval and data manipulationtime by not needing to communicate over a network with a back-enddatabase server. These types of caches and others may be included invarious embodiments, and may provide potential advantages in certainimplementations of retrieving driving, vehicle data, and individualdata, such as faster response times and less dependence on networkconditions when transmitting/receiving accident detection and recoverysoftware applications (or application updates), driving data, vehicleand occupant data, etc.

It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areillustrative and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used. The existence of any of variousnetwork protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, andof various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiFi,and WiMAX, is presumed, and the various computer devices and systemcomponents described herein may be configured to communicate using anyof these network protocols or technologies.

Additionally, one or more application programs 119 may be used by thevarious mobile device locating computing devices 101 within a devicelocation and configuration system 100 (e.g., device location softwareapplications, device configuration software applications, and the like),including computer executable instructions for receiving and storingdata from vehicle-based systems, and/or mobile computing devices,analyzing the data to determine a potential location of a mobilecomputing device in relation to a vehicle, retrieving various vehicledata and individual data relating to the vehicle occupants, determiningand configuring the mobile computing device based on the retrieved andanalyzed data, and/or performing other related functions as describedherein.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an illustrative device location and configurationsystem 200 including a vehicle 210 and a mobile device 220 andadditional related components. Each component shown in FIG. 2 may beimplemented in hardware, software, or a combination of the two.Additionally, each component of the device location and configurationsystem 200 may include a computing device (or system) having some or allof the structural components described above for mobile device locatingcomputing device 101. The illustration of a single mobile device isexemplary and any number of mobile devices may be present in the devicelocation and configuration system 200.

Vehicle 210 in the device location and configuration system 200 may be,for example, an automobile, motorcycle, scooter, bus, recreationalvehicle, boat, or any other vehicle for which vehicle driving data maybe analyzed. The vehicle 210 includes vehicle operation sensors 211capable of detecting and recording various conditions at the vehicle andoperational parameters of the vehicle. For example, sensors 211 maydetect and store data corresponding to the vehicle's location (e.g., GPScoordinates), speed and direction, rates of acceleration or braking, andspecific instances of sudden acceleration, braking, and swerving.Sensors 211 also may detect and store data received from the vehicle's210 internal systems, such as door opening and closing, door locking andunlocking, cruise control usage, turn signal usage, seat belt usage,phone and radio usage within the vehicle, maintenance performed on thevehicle, and other data collected by the vehicle's computer systems.

Additional sensors 211 may detect and store external conditions duringdriving. For example, external cameras and proximity sensors 211 maydetect other nearby vehicles, traffic levels, road conditions, trafficobstructions, animals, cyclists, pedestrians, and other conditions thatmay factor into a driving event data analysis. Additional sensors 211may detect and store data relating to the maintenance of the vehicle210, such as the engine status, oil level, engine coolant temperature,odometer reading, the level of fuel in the fuel tank, engine revolutionsper minute (RPMs), and/or tire pressure.

Certain vehicle sensors 211 also may collect information regarding thedriver's route choice, whether the driver follows a given route, and toclassify the type of trip (e.g. commute, errand, new route, etc.). Thismay be in combination with a location service device 215 which isconnected to a location service. The location service device 215 may be,for example, one or more devices receiving Global Positioning System(GPS) data or other locational sensors positioned inside the vehicle210, and/or locational sensors or devices external to the vehicle 210which may be used determine the route or position of the vehicle.

Mobile device 220 in the device location and configuration system 200may be, for example, any mobile device, such as a smartphone, tabletcomputing device, personal digital assistant (PDA), smart watch,netbook, laptop computer, and other like devices. The mobile device 220includes a set of mobile device sensors 221, which may include, forexample, gyroscope 226 and accelerometer 223. The mobile device sensors221 may be capable of detecting and recording various conditions at themobile device 220 and operational parameters of the mobile device 220.For example, sensors 221 may detect and store data corresponding to themobile device's location (e.g., GPS coordinates), speed and direction inone or multiple axes (forward and back, left and right, and up and downfor example), rates of acceleration or deceleration, and specificinstances of sudden acceleration, deceleration, and lateral movement.Sensors 221 may include audio sensors, video sensors, signal strengthsensors, communication network-presence sensors, ambient light sensors,temperature/humidity sensors, barometer sensors, and may detect andstore relevant data, such as data which may be indicative of entering orexiting a vehicle. This may include for example, listening for audiosignals indicating a door locking/unlocking, door chime, or vehicleignition, sensing light from an overhead or dashboard light, detecting atemperature or humidity change indicative of entering a vehicle,detecting a presence of a network or communication device associatedwith a vehicle (e.g., a BLUETOOTH transceiver associated with avehicle), and other data collected by the mobile device's sensors.

Software applications executing on mobile device 220 may be configuredto detect certain driving data independently using mobile device sensors221 and/or may communicate with vehicle sensors 211 to receiveadditional driving data. For example, mobile device 220 may be equippedwith movement sensors, such as an accelerometer 223, gyroscope 226,speedometer, and/or GPS receivers, and may determine vehicle location,speed, acceleration, direction and other basic driving data withoutneeding to communicate with the vehicle sensors 211, or any vehiclesystem. In other examples, software on the mobile device 220 may beconfigured to receive some or all of the driving data collected byvehicle sensors 211.

Additional sensors 221 may detect and store external conditions whichmay indicate presence within a vehicle. For example, audio sensors andproximity sensors 211 may detect other nearby mobile devices, trafficlevels, road conditions, traffic obstructions, animals, cyclists,pedestrians, and other conditions that may factor into a driving eventdata analysis.

Certain mobile device sensors 221 also may collect information regardingthe driver's route choice, whether the driver follows a given route, andto classify the type of trip (e.g. commute, errand, new route, etc.).This may be in combination with a location service device 225 which isconnected to a location service. The location service device 225 may be,for example, one or more devices receiving GPS data, or may be otherdevice(s) or other locational sensors positioned at the mobile device220.

Data collected by the mobile device sensors 221 may be stored and/oranalyzed within the mobile device 220, and/or may be transmitted to oneor more external devices. At the same time, data collected by thevehicle sensors 211 may be stored and/or analyzed within the vehicle210, and/or may be transmitted to one or more external devices. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 2, sensor data may be exchanged(uni-directionally or bi-directionally) between vehicle 210 and mobiledevice 220 via short-range communication systems 212 and 222.Additionally, the sensor data may be transmitted from the vehicle 210and/or mobile device 220 to one or more remote computing devices, suchas location determination and configuration server 250, via a telematicsdevice 213, and/or via a communication interface and communicationsystem (not shown).

Short-range communication systems 212 and 222 are data transmissionsystems configured to transmit vehicle operational data to other nearbyvehicles, and to receive vehicle operational data from other nearbyvehicles. Short-range communication systems 212 and 222 may beimplemented using short-range wireless protocols such as WLANcommunication protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth (e.g., IEEE802.15.1), or one or more of the Communication Access for Land Mobiles(CALM) wireless communication protocols and air interfaces. Thetransmissions between the short-range communication systems 212 and 222may be sent via Bluetooth, satellite, GSM infrared, IEEE 802.11, WiMAX,RFID, and/or any suitable wireless communication media, standards, andprotocols. In certain systems, short-range communication systems 212 and222 may include specialized hardware installed in vehicle 210 and mobiledevice 220 (e.g., transceivers, antennas, etc.), while in other examplesthe communication systems 212 and 222 may be implemented using existinghardware components (e.g., radio and satellite equipment, navigationcomputers) or may be implemented by software running on the mobiledevice 220 and within the vehicle 210.

In certain examples, mobile device 220 may periodically broadcast setsof accelerometer or other sensor data, such as data from an onboardgyroscope or GPS receiver or the like. Alternatively, in some examples,the vehicle 210 may periodically broadcast sets of vehicle data to bereceived by the mobile device 220 (this may be, for example, where themobile device is tasked with determining its location within thevehicle). The state or usage of the vehicle's 210 controls andinstruments may also be transmitted to the mobile device, for example,as well as whether the vehicle is accelerating, braking, turning, and byhow much, and/or which of the vehicle's instruments are currentlyactivated by the driver (e.g., turn signals, cruise control, laneassist, and so on.). In various other examples, any data collected byany vehicle sensors 211 potentially may be transmitted. Further,additional vehicle driving data not from the vehicle's sensors (e.g.,vehicle make/model/year information, driver insurance information,driving route information, vehicle maintenance information, driverscores, and so on) may be collected from other data sources, such as adriver's or passenger's mobile device 220.

As shown in FIG. 2, the data collected by vehicle sensors 211 and/or thedata collected by mobile device sensors 221 also may be transmitted toan external source, such as a location determination and configurationserver 250, and one or more additional external servers and devices viaa telematics device 213 and/or other communication devices/interfaces.The communications devices such as telematics device 213 may becomputing devices containing many or all of the hardware/softwarecomponents as the mobile device locating computing device 101 depictedin FIG. 1. As discussed above, the telematics device 213 may receivevehicle operation data and driving data from vehicle sensors 211, andmay transmit the data to one or more external computer systems (e.g., alocation determination and configuration server 250 of an insurancecompany, financial institution, or other entity) over a wirelesstransmission network. The telematics device 213 also may be configuredto detect or determine additional types of data relating to real-timedriving and the condition of the vehicle 210. In certain embodiments,the telematics device 213 may contain or may be integral with one ormore of the vehicle sensors 211. The telematics device 213 also maystore the type of its respective vehicle 210, for example, the make,model, trim (or sub-model), year, and/or engine specifications, as wellas other information such as vehicle owner or driver information,insurance information, and financing information for the vehicle 210.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, telematics device 213 may receivevehicle driving data from vehicle sensors 211, and may transmit the datato a location determination and configuration server 250. However, inother examples, one or more of the vehicle sensors 211 may be configuredto transmit data directly to a location determination and configurationserver 250 without using a telematics device. In other examples,telematics device 213 may be configured to transmit vehicle driving datato the mobile devices 220 (e.g., in addition to or in the alternative toshort-range communication system 212/222). Telematics device 213 may beconfigured to receive and transmit data from certain vehicle sensors211, while other sensors may be configured to directly transmit data toa location determination and configuration server 250 without using thetelematics device 213. In other examples, one or more of the vehiclesensors 211 may be configured to transmit data to the mobile device 220without using a telematics device. For instance, telematics device 213may be configured to receive and transmit data from certain vehiclesensors 211, while other sensors may be configured to directly transmitdata to the mobile devices 220 within the vehicle 210 without using thetelematics device 213. Mobile device 220 may be configured to transmitsensor data, including sensor data received via short-rangecommunication system 222 and/or telematics device 213 to a locationdetermination and configuration server 250. Thus, telematics device 213may be optional in certain embodiments.

In certain embodiments, mobile device 220 may be used to collect vehicledriving data and/or mobile device data from sensors 211 and 221, andthen used to transmit the vehicle driving data to the locationdetermination and configuration server 250 and other external computingdevices directly or via telematics device 213. As used herein, mobilecomputing devices 220 “within” the vehicle 210 include mobile devices220 that are inside of or otherwise secured to a moving vehicle, forinstance, in the cabins of automobiles, buses, recreational vehicles,motorcycles, scooters, or boats, and mobile devices 220 in thepossession of drivers or passengers of vehicle.

Vehicles 210 and mobile devices 220 may include device locationdetermination and configuration modules as hardware, software and/orfirmware components with processors 214 and 224, respectively.Alternatively, device location determination and configuration modulesmay be separate computing devices or may be integrated into one or moreother components within the vehicle 210 and mobile device 220, such asthe short-range communication systems 212 and 222, telematics device213, or other internal computing systems of vehicles 210 and 220. Thelocation determination and configuration modules may contain some or allof the hardware/software components as the mobile device locatingcomputing device 101 depicted in FIG. 1. Further, in certainimplementations, the functionality of the location determination andconfiguration modules, such as storing and analyzing vehicle drivingdata, storing and analyzing mobile device based data, determining apredicted location of a mobile device, and performing one or morefollow-on actions, may be performed in a location determination andconfiguration server 250 rather than by individual vehicle 210 andmobile device 220. In such implementations, the vehicle 210 and mobiledevice 220 might only collect and transmit data to locationdetermination and configuration server 250, and thus the device locationdetermination and configuration modules within processors 214 and 224may be optional.

Device location determination and configuration modules withinprocessors 214 and 224 may be implemented in hardware and/or softwareconfigured to receive vehicle driving data from vehicle sensors 211,mobile device sensors 221, short-range communication systems 212 and222, telematics device 213, and/or other data sources. After receivingthe data, device location determination and configuration modules withinprocessors 214 and 224 may perform a set of functions to analyze thedata, determine a position of the mobile device within the vehicle, andperform one or more actions based on the determination of the position.For example, the device location determination and configuration moduleswithin processors 214 and 224 may include one or more positioningalgorithms, machine learning algorithms, and device detectionalgorithms, which may be executed by software running on generic orspecialized hardware within the device location determination andconfiguration modules. The device location determination andconfiguration module within processors 214 in a vehicle 210 may use thevehicle driving data received from that vehicle's sensors 211, alongwith data from mobile device 220 received via the short-rangecommunication system 212, to determine a particular location of themobile device 220 within the interior of the vehicle 210. Furtherdescriptions and examples of the algorithms, functions, and analysesthat may be executed by the device location determination andconfiguration modules within processors 214 and 224 are described belowin reference to FIGS. 3-8.

The system 200 also may include a device location determination andconfiguration server 250, containing some or all of thehardware/software components as the mobile device locating computingdevice 101 depicted in FIG. 1. The device location determination andconfiguration server 250 may include hardware, software, and networkcomponents to receive vehicle driving data from vehicle 210 and mobiledevices 220, and other data sources. The device location determinationand configuration server 250 may include databases and device locationdetermination and configuration modules (not shown) to respectivelystore and analyze driving data received from vehicles and other datasources. The device location determination and configuration server 250may initiate communication with and/or retrieve driving data fromvehicle 210 wirelessly via telematics device 213, mobile device 220, orby way of separate computing systems over one or more computer networks(e.g., the Internet). Additionally, the device location determinationand configuration server 250 may receive additional data relevant tomobile device positioning information determinations from othernon-vehicle data sources, such as external traffic databases containingtraffic data (e.g., amounts of traffic, average driving speed, trafficspeed distribution, and numbers and types of accidents, etc.) at varioustimes and locations, external infrastructure elements (e.g., networkelements of a data or telecommunications network such as a cellulartelephone or data network), and the like.

The device location determination and configuration modules within thedevice location determination and configuration server 250 may beconfigured to retrieve data from the local database, or may receivedriving data directly from vehicle 210, mobile device 220, or other datasources, and may perform functions such as determining a location of themobile device 220 within the interior of vehicle 210, transmittingnotifications to the vehicle 210, mobile device 220, or other deviceswhen the location of the mobile device is determined, or when it isdetermined to be within a specific area of the interior (e.g., driver'sseat, passenger's seat, trunk, glove compartment, mounting device, andso on) collecting data related to dangerous driving behaviors (e.g.,using the mobile device while operating the vehicle), performingpost-collection processing, and other related functions. The functionsperformed by the device location determination and configuration modulesmay be similar to those of device location determination andconfiguration modules within processors 214 and 224, and furtherdescriptions and examples of the algorithms, functions, and analysesthat may be executed by the device location determination andconfiguration modules are described below in reference to FIGS. 3-8.

In various examples, the analyses and actions performed within devicelocation determination and configuration modules may be performedentirely in device location determination and configuration module ofthe device location determination and configuration server 250 (in whichcase device location determination and configuration modules withinprocessors 214 and 224 need not be implemented in vehicle 210 and mobiledevice 220), may be performed entirely in the vehicle-based and mobiledevice-based modules within processors 214 and 224 (in which case thedevice location determination and configuration module and/or the server250 need not be implemented), or in some combination of the two. Forexample, a vehicle-based module within processor 214 and device-basedmodule within processor 224 may continuously receive and analyze dataand determine a change in position within the interior of the vehicle210 has not occurred, so that large or repetitive amounts of data neednot be transmitted to the server 250. However, after an excessive changein position is detected (e.g., because one passenger in the car hashanded the phone to another passenger or the driver) the data may betransmitted to the server 250, and the modules thereof may determine ifthe execution of one or more actions is required.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate exemplary events for which data may becollected by the vehicle sensors 211 and/or the device sensors 221. InFIG. 3A, a road-surface discontinuity (here, a bump 404) may beencountered by the front tire 405 of a vehicle 403 (which may be vehicle210 from FIG. 2). The bump 404 exerts a force on the vehicle at theaxle, causing an acceleration and a positive vertical displacement ofthe front tire 405. For example, bump 404 may be a speed bump and thetraversal of the speed bump may cause the front of car 403 to rise asfront tire 405 passes over the speed bump. As this bump is encounteredon the front tire, the translation of the force of the bump through thevehicle's center of gravity 407 causes a rotation of the vehicle aboutthe rear axle toward the rear of the vehicle (e.g., illustrated viaarrow 406). Typically, this is not perceived by the vehicle occupantsfor any great length of time, as once the vehicle returns to the “flat”surface after traversing the bump, the vehicle experiences acorresponding rotation about the rear axle in the opposite direction. Abump 404 which causes negative vertical displacement of the front tire405 (e.g., a pothole) will result in the opposite initial rotation thanthat depicted in FIG. 3A (e.g., the car will rotate about the rear axletoward the front of the vehicle).

In FIG. 3B, a bump 414 may be encountered by the rear tire 415 of thevehicle 403. The bump 414 exerts a force on the vehicle at the axle,causing an acceleration positive vertical displacement of the rear tire415. For example, bump 414 may be a speed bump and the traversal of thespeed bump may cause the rear of car 403 to rise as rear tire 415 passesover the speed bump. As this bump is encountered on the rear tire, thetranslation of the force of the bump through the vehicle's center ofgravity 407 causes a rotation of the vehicle about the front axle towardthe front of the vehicle (e.g., illustrated via arrow 416). Once again,the vehicle quickly returns to the “flat” surface after traversing thebump, and the vehicle experiences a corresponding rotation about thefront axle in the opposite direction. A bump 414 which causes negativevertical displacement of the rear tire 415 will result in the oppositeinitial rotation than that depicted in FIG. 3B (e.g., the car willrotate about the front axle toward the rear of the vehicle).

As seen in FIG. 4, which illustrates a plot of accelerations 409 and 419in the frame of reference discussed above, two angles 420 and 421 may bedetermined, with angle 421 having a larger absolute magnitude than angle420 when measured from the X-axis. In some aspects, acceleration datamay represent a movement vector in all three dimensions (e.g.,rightward, forward, and upward, for example from a bump experiencedduring a turn) and angles 420 and 421, or any other angle derived fromthe movement of mobile device 408 and/or vehicle 403 may be representedin one or multiple dimensions.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate further exemplary events for which datamay be collected by the vehicle sensors 211 and/or the device sensors221. Here, one difference between the events depicted in FIGS. 5A and 5Band the events previously discussed above, is that the bump may beexperienced by either the left (−y) or right (+y) side of the vehicle.In FIG. 5A, a bump 504 may be encountered by the front left tire 505(when facing the front of the vehicle) of a vehicle 503. The bump 504causes positive vertical displacement of the front left tire 505. Forexample, bump 504 may be a speed bump and the traversal of the speedbump may cause the front left of car 503 to rise as front left tire 505passes over the speed bump. As this bump is encountered on the frontleft tire, the translation of the force of the bump through thevehicle's center of gravity 507 causes a rotation of the vehicle aboutan axis through a point located near the right rear tire, with therotation toward the rear of the vehicle (e.g., illustrated via arrow 508which illustrates direction of rotation but not necessarily position ofthe axis). A bump 504 which causes negative vertical displacement of thefront left tire 505 (e.g., a pothole) will result in the oppositeinitial rotation than that depicted in FIG. 5A (e.g., the car willrotate about the point toward the front of the vehicle).

In FIG. 5B, a bump 514 may be encountered by the front right tire 515 ofthe vehicle 503. The bump 514 causes positive vertical displacement ofthe front right tire 515. For example, bump 514 may be a speed bump andthe traversal of the speed bump may cause the front right of car 503 torise as right front tire 515 passes over the speed bump. As this bump isencountered on the rear tire, and because the vehicle is traveling withspeed, the translation of the force of the bump through the vehicle'scenter of gravity 507 causes a rotation of the vehicle about axisthrough a point near the rear left tire. A bump 514 which causesnegative vertical displacement of the front right tire 515 will resultin the opposite rotation than that depicted in FIG. 5B (e.g., the carwill rotate about the axis toward the front right of the vehicle).

As may be seen with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4, 5A, and 5B, a vehiclewhich encounters a bump may experience a corresponding vertical movement(e.g., movement along the positive or negative Z-axis) as well asmovement alone one or more of the other axis (e.g., movement along thepositive or negative X-axis and/or Y-axis). This single-axis ormulti-axis movement may be experienced by a mobile device located withinthe vehicle. With particular reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, a vector ofacceleration of the vehicle caused by the bump may form an angle withthe axes of movement (e.g., a vehicle “bump angle”) which are depictedin FIG. 4 as angles 420 and 421. This vector and this bump angle may bederived from data sensed by the vehicle sensors 211. A similar vector ofacceleration of the mobile device caused by the bump and itscorresponding bump angle may also be derived from data sensed by themobile device sensors 211, such as accelerometer 223. Although the term“bump angle” is used herein, such terminology is not limited to eventswhere the encountered road-surface discontinuity results inmovement/acceleration along the positive Z-axis and may include anyroad-surface discontinuity that results in movement and/or accelerationalong any one or more axis.

FIG. 5C illustrates various aspects of graphed data resulting fromvehicular encounters with a bump, which reflects how the magnitude ofacceleration and movement in a single axis may be experienced by amobile device. For example, line 550 demonstrates a smaller first bumpmagnitude (e.g., from a first tire hitting the bump) than the secondbump magnitude (e.g., from a second tire hitting the bump). Accordingly,as will be explained further below, the sequence and magnitude of bumpsin line 550 may indicate that the device is located closer to theposition of the location where the second bump was caused (e.g., thesecond tire) than the first bump location. Furthermore, the timedifference between the bumps may indicate that the device is closer toor further away from the center of gravity of the vehicle. Line 560,however, indicates a stronger first bump magnitude, indicating that thedevice may be closer to the first bump event location than the secondbump event location.

With the terminology and environments of FIGS. 3-5 in mind, FIG. 6depicts an illustrative method for determining the position of a mobiledevice in a vehicle according to one or more aspects herein. In step610, data is received at a sensor of a mobile device. This may be, forexample, accelerometer data from accelerometer 223. In step 610, thedata may be received at a processing device. For ease of discussion, theterm processing device includes at least the various devices and systemsdiscussed above which may be utilized to determine the mobile deviceposition within the vehicle interior (e.g., the processing device may beone or more of the mobile device 220, the vehicle 210, the variousmodules of the processors 214 and 224, the server 250, and the like).

In step 620, the data received by the processing device may betranslated to a corrected frame of reference. In many aspects,determining the axes of movement may be part of the problem ofdetermining the position of the mobile device, For example, mobiledevices may be in a garment pocket, in a bag or purse, in a glovecompartment or center console, or angled near DC power ports forcharging purposes. Accordingly, what may appear as lateral movement(e.g., Y-axis movement) to the accelerometer of the mobile device mayactually be forward and backward movement (e.g., X-axis movement) in thevehicle's reference frame because the mobile device may be at be angledor rotated. At step 620, one or more inferences may be derived from theincoming data to determine which axis of incoming data corresponds to afrontwards/backwards axis (X-axis), a lateral axis (Y-axis), andvertical axis (Z-axis). These one or more inferences may be derivedbased on the receiving and processing of data from other sources, asdiscussed above. Data may be received from other sensors of the vehicleand/or the mobile device to infer the X axis and Y axis. For example,acceleration and/or deceleration data may be obtained from the vehicle(e.g., operation of the gas or brake pedals, data from a fixedaccelerator, and so on), and an appropriate change in magnitude aloneone or more axis may be determined. As another example, data from thevehicle might not be used, and only data available to the mobile devicemay be used instead. For example, data may be received from theaccelerometer data and may be examined to determine movement at a rightangle to a gravity-vector (e.g., a vector indicating acceleration due togravity). This may assist the device in determining an orientation ofthe mobile device. The mobile device may detect a large magnitude ofmovement along one or more axis and may compare the timing of thatmagnitude of movement with data from location services device 225indicating a change in velocity or speed based on received GPS data.From this, the mobile device may be able to infer which axis or axescontain movement in the X-direction.

Separately at step 620, or in combination with the above, the processingdevice may be able to infer left and right (e.g., Y-axis movement). Forexample, the processing device may receive a signal indicative that thevehicle is making a left or right turn (e.g., data indicating theoperator has engaged the left or right turn signal, data indicating thesteering wheel has been rotated to the left or the right, GPS orlocation services data indicating that the route has been updatedbecause the operator has made a left or right turn, or the like). Again,in some aspects this data might not be obtained from the vehicle and mayinstead be obtained only via the sensors local to the mobile device. Forexample, GPS or location services data may be received from locationservices device 225 indicating a left or right turn has been made, andthe accelerometer data may be examined to determine movement at a rightangle to a gravity-vector (e.g., a vector indicating acceleration due togravity). Corrected data may result from the processing and translationof the incoming data to determine one or more inferences related fromthe data.

In step 630, the corrected data may be examined to determine a bumpevent. This may include, for example, determining positive or negativemovement and/or acceleration in the corrected Z-axis indicating thepresence of a road-surface discontinuity (e.g., a bump, pothole, or thelike). For example, the magnitude of movement and/or acceleration alongthe Z-axis may be compared to a predetermined threshold; if themagnitude of the vector exceeds the predetermined threshold (YES branchfrom step 630), then the data may reflect a candidate event. Apredetermined threshold may be used, for example, to avoid the capturingof excessive data, and/or to avoid triggering the detection method for afalse positive event (e.g., noise occurring in the data from unevenpavement or an operator repositioning themselves in their seat). If themagnitude of the vector does not exceed the predetermined threshold,then the method may await additional data (NO branch from step 630).

At step 635, a bump angle and bump magnitude may be calculated. In someaspects, the bump angle may be calculated by performing a dot product ofthe corrected data in two or more axes. For example, one calculation ofthe bump angle may include taking an acceleration vector and dot productmultiplying with the down vector (Z-axis), a corresponding calculationof the arctangent of the ratio of the X-axis vector and the Z-axisvector (e.g., arctan(X/Z)) may result in the bump angle. The result ofthe calculation, regardless of how it may be performed, may be stored ina storage device for retrieval and/or further calculation later in theprocess.

In some aspects, receiving further data may be beneficial for providingincreased certainty in the device locating. This further data mayinclude, for example, additional data from the accelerometer of themobile device, since in some examples, a bump should be encountered byboth the front and the rear tires of the vehicle. The expectation inthese examples may be that the event determined to exceed the thresholdat step 630 may be the front tire or front tires encountering the bump.One way to receive the further data may be, at step 640, to instantiatea timer or timing logic to await additional data indicative of movementor acceleration. The duration of the timer may be, for example, based onthe speed of the vehicle (either provided from a vehicle-based datasource or a mobile-device data source). If data indicative of a bump (asecond bump) is received within the duration (YES branch from step 645),the data of the original (first) bump and the data of the second bumpmay be matched and compared at step 650. If the data of the second bumpdiffers from the data from the first bump (e.g., based on one or moreheuristic analyses, it is determined that it is unlikely the sameroad-surface discontinuity caused the first bump data and the secondbump data), the first and second data may be discarded and the methodmay be restarted (NO branch from step 650). Additionally, if the secondbump is not sensed, the method may be restarted (NO branch from step645).

If, however, the first bump matches the second bump (YES branch fromstep 650), a calculation similar to that discussed above may beperformed at step 660: again, one calculation of the second bumpmagnitude may include taking a forward vector (X-axis) and dot productmultiplying with the down vector (Z-axis), a corresponding calculationof the arctangent of the ratio of the X-axis vector and the Z-axisvector (e.g., arctan(X/Z)) may result in the second bump angle.

Based on the first bump vector or components thereof (e.g., first bumpmagnitude, first bump angle) and/or the second bump vector or componentsthereof (e.g., second bump magnitude, second bump angle), the deviceposition may be estimated in step 670. This may include feeding thefirst bump vector or its components and/or the second bump vector or itscomponents into a heuristics engine, which may be implemented by one ormore of the processors and devices previously discussed (e.g., mobiledevice locating computing device 101 and so on). The heuristics enginemay use various variables and assign various weights to the variables.For example, variables which may be examined by the heuristics enginemay include: “first/second bump angle,” “first/second bump magnitude,”“listening for turn signal with microphone,” “detecting mobile devicebeing placed into cradle,” “difference in bump magnitudes,” “differencein bump angles,” “duration between bumps,” “rotation of device from atime estimated to be when the mobile device entered the vehicle,”“acceleration signal from a time estimated to be when the mobile deviceentered the vehicle,” “Fourier coefficients of accelerometer from a timeestimated to be when the mobile device entered the vehicle,” and“Fourier coefficients of gyroscope from a time estimated to be when themobile device entered the vehicle.” Naturally, other variables may beused without parting from the scope of the present disclosure; inparticular, any variable or sensed data may be used by the heuristicsengine to determine a location of a mobile device. The heuristics enginemay be calibrated to determine a target variable of left or rightposition and/or front or back position. In some aspects, the heuristicsengine may include usage of a support vector machine, neural network,random forest, gradient boosted tree, generalized linear model, or otherstatistical modeling techniques.

As an example of a simplistic determination which may be performed bythe heuristics engine to determine a rough location of the mobile devicewithin the interior of the vehicle, the difference in bump angle and thedifference in the bump magnitude may indicate an approximate position ofthe mobile device relative to the center of gravity of the vehicle, asdiscussed above with reference to FIGS. 3-5, and especially FIG. 5C. Forexample, a “stronger” first bump in data 560 (e.g., data with greaterbump magnitude or larger bump angle) may indicate the mobile device islocated closer to the front of the vehicle, whereas a “stronger” secondbump in data 550 may indicate the mobile device is located closer to therear of the vehicle.

As another example of a determination which may be performed by theheuristics engine to determine a rough location of the mobile device,accelerometer and gyroscope data may be collected at the mobile device.The data may contain indicators of rhythmic movement along one or moreaxes, which may indicate that a user is carrying the device on theirperson while walking. Data signatures and/or pattern matching may beemployed, which may include comparing the received data to knownaccelerometer and/or gyroscope signal values. For example, theindicators may be different if the device is held in the user's hand, ina bag, in a pocket near the user's hip, or in a shirt pocket, forexample. By comparing the accelerometer and gyroscope data to the knownvalues, it may be possible to determine whether subsequent received dataindicates the user is entering a vehicle, because the received datafurther matches the patterns present in the known values. Given thismatching of the data to a known pattern, it may be possible to determineif the mobile device is entering the vehicle on the driver's side orpassenger's side, especially if further data indicates the mobile deviceis within a driver's quadrant or non-driver's quadrant.

Returning to FIG. 6A, in some aspects, the received data may indicate astrong lateral or left/right (Y-axis) movement. Accordingly, in someaspects in step 635 and 660 a third and fourth bump vector using theY-axis component may be calculated. For example, this calculation of thethird and fourth bump vector may include calculating a bump magnitude bytaking a left/right vector and dot product multiplying with the downvector (Z-axis), and performing a corresponding calculation of thearctangent of the ratio of the Y-axis vector and the Z-axis vector(e.g., arctan(Y/Z)) may result in the third and fourth bump angle. Theseadditional bump vectors or their components may be used by theheuristics engine to determine the position. For example, a first bumpmay have a strong +Y component, and the second bump may have no Ycomponent or a strong −Y component, which may indicate that the mobiledevice may be located on the right side of the vehicle or its center ofgravity.

Based on the determination of the position of the mobile device, one ormore actions may be performed in step 680. These actions may includeactions which configure the mobile device and/or the vehicle, such asproviding a notification to the mobile device (e.g., displaying awarning on a display of the mobile device), deactivating a feature ofthe mobile device (e.g., disabling a text messaging application),providing a notification to the vehicle (e.g., displaying or enabling avisual or audio notification indicating that the mobile device has beendetected in the area of the driver's seat and will be silenced while thevehicle is in motion), causing the activation or deactivation of afeature of the vehicle (e.g., enabling a BLUETOOTH transceiver, turningon lane assist functionality if disabled), transmitting a notificationto a third party (e.g., transmitting a notification to an insuranceservice or insurance application indicating that a mobile device may bebeing used by a vehicle operator) and so on. Alternatively, otheractions may be taken when the device is not located in the driver'sarea: for example, the activation or reactivation of features or thetransmitting of a notification to a third party (e.g., transmitting anotification to an insurance service indicating that the vehicleoperator is not using the mobile device).

The actions taken may be dependent on the variables inputted in theheuristics engine and/or other data. For example, if the durationbetween bumps is at or near the maximum duration, the first bumpmagnitude is within a certain range, and/or the mobile device indicatesthat has been placed in a cradle, certain functionality may be disabledon the mobile device (e.g., text messaging applications, social mediaapplications) but other functionality may be enabled (e.g., routeguidance or navigation applications) as the ranged bump magnitude and/orcradle detection may indicate the mobile device is being held staticallyand not in the driver's hand.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate various user interfaces indicating theexecution of actions that may result from determining the positioninformation. In user interface 700 a, an interface is displayedindicating that the mobile device is in the driver's seat and thevehicle is in motion, and as a result the text messaging applicationsmay be disabled. In user interface 700 b, an interface is displayedindicated that the mobile device is transferring map and routinginformation to a detected GPS system installed on the vehicle, renderingfurther usage of the mobile device unnecessary.

FIG. 8 provides an additional exemplary method to determine the locationof a mobile device in the interior of a vehicle. The method of FIG. 8differs from FIG. 6 in that vehicular accelerometer data is used in themethod of FIG. 8. At step 810, information may be received from anin-motion vehicle (e.g., one or more sensors within the vehicle) at aprocessing device. This information may include information about thevehicle and its occupants: for example, the vehicle detected only asingle door (the driver's door) opened and closed, and only the driver'sseatbelt is engaged. In step 815, data may be received at a processingdevice from a sensor of a mobile device. This may be, for example,accelerometer data from accelerometer 223. Again, for ease ofdiscussion, the term processing device includes at least the variousdevices and systems discussed above which may be utilized to determinethe mobile device position within the vehicle interior (e.g., theprocessing device may be one or more of the mobile device 220, thevehicle 210, the various modules of the processors 214 and 224, theserver 250, and the like).

In step 820, the data received by the processing device may betranslated to a corrected frame of reference. In many aspects,determining the axes of movement may be part of the problem ofdetermining the position of the mobile device, For example, mobiledevices may be in a garment pocket, in a bag or purse, in a glovecompartment or center console, or angled near DC power ports forcharging purposes. Accordingly, what may appear as lateral movement(e.g., Y-axis movement) to the accelerometer of the mobile device mayactually forward and backward movement (e.g., X-axis movement) in thevehicle's reference frame because the mobile device may be at be angledor rotated. At step 820, one or more inferences may be derived from theincoming data to determine which axis of incoming data corresponds to afrontwards/backwards axis (X-axis), a lateral axis (Y-axis), andvertical axis (Z-axis). These one or more inferences may be derivedbased on the receiving and processing of data from other sources, asdiscussed above. For example, data may be received from other sensors ofthe vehicle and/or the mobile device to infer the X axis and Y axis. Forexample, acceleration and/or deceleration data may be obtained from thevehicle (e.g., operation of the gas or brake pedals, data from a fixedaccelerator, and so on), and an appropriate change in magnitude aloneone or more axes may be determined.

Separately at step 820, or in combination with the above, the processingdevice may be able to infer left and right (e.g., Y-axis movement). Forexample, the processing device may receive a signal indicative that thevehicle is making a left or right turn (e.g., data indicating theoperator has engaged the left or right turn signal, data indicating thesteering wheel has been rotated to the left or the right, GPS orlocation services data indicating that the route has been updatedbecause the operator has made a left or right turn, or the like).Corrected data may result from the processing and translation of theincoming data to determine one or more inferences related from the data.

In step 830, the corrected data may be examined to determine a bumpevent in the vehicle-based data (e.g., data from an accelerometer fixedin the interior of the vehicle, in the engine compartment of the vehicleand/or in the wheel area of the vehicle). This may include, for example,determining positive or negative movement and/or acceleration in thecorrected Z-axis indicating the presence of a road-surface discontinuity(e.g., a bump, pothole, or the like). For example, the magnitude ofmovement and/or acceleration along the Z-axis may be compared to apredetermined threshold; if the magnitude of the vector exceeds thepredetermined threshold (YES branch from step 830), then the data mayreflect a candidate event. A predetermined threshold may be used, forexample, to avoid the capturing of excessive data, and/or to avoidtriggering the detection method for a false positive event (e.g., noiseoccurring in the data from uneven pavement). If the magnitude of thevector does not exceed the predetermined threshold, then the method mayawait additional data (NO branch from step 830).

At step 835, a bump angle and bump magnitude may be calculated. In someaspects, the bump angle may be calculated by performing a dot product ofthe corrected data in two or more axes. For example, one calculation ofthe bump magnitude may include taking a forward vector (X-axis) and dotproduct multiplying with the down vector (Z-axis), a correspondingcalculation of the arctangent of the ratio of the X-axis vector and theZ-axis vector (e.g., arctan(X/Z)) may result in the bump angle. Theresult of the calculation, regardless of how it may be performed, may bestored in a storage device for retrieval and/or further calculationlater in the process.

In some aspects, receiving further data may occur at step 845. Thisfurther data may include, for example, data from the accelerometer ofthe mobile device. Unlike in FIG. 6, however, a timer might not beneeded, because the mobile device may sense the bump at approximatelythe same time as the sensors of the vehicle. As such, provided thesecond bump event is actually detected at the mobile device (e.g., YESbranch from step 845), the data of the original (first) bump and thedata of the second bump may be matched and compared at step 850. If thedata of the second bump differs from the data from the first bump (e.g.,based on one or more heuristic analyses, it is determined that it isunlikely the same road-surface discontinuity caused the vehicle bumpdata and the mobile device bump data), the first and second data may bediscarded and the method may be restarted (NO branch from step 850).Additionally, if the second bump is not sensed, the method may berestarted (NO branch from step 845).

If, however, the first bump matches the second bump (YES branch fromstep 850), a calculation similar to that discussed above may beperformed at step 860: again, one calculation of the second bumpmagnitude may include taking an acceleration vector and dot productmultiplying with the down vector (Z-axis), a corresponding calculationof the arctangent of the ratio of the X-axis vector and the Z-axisvector (e.g., arctan(X/Z)) may result in the second bump angle.

Based on the first bump vector or components thereof (e.g., first bumpmagnitude, first bump angle) and/or the second bump vector or componentsthereof (e.g., second bump magnitude, second bump angle), the deviceposition may be estimated in step 870. This may include feeding thefirst bump vector or its components and/or the second bump vector or itscomponents into a heuristics engine, which uses various variables andassigns various weights to the variables. For example, variables whichmay be examined by the heuristics engine are discussed above, but mayinclude: “first/second bump angle,” “first/second bump magnitude,”“listening for turn signal with microphone,” “detecting mobile devicebeing placed into cradle,” “difference in bump magnitudes,” “differencein bump angles,” “duration between bumps,” “rotation of device from atime estimated to be when the mobile device entered the vehicle,”“acceleration signal from a time estimated to be when the mobile deviceentered the vehicle,” “Fourier coefficients of accelerometer from a timeestimated to be when the mobile device entered the vehicle,” and“Fourier coefficients of gyroscope from a time estimated to be when themobile device entered the vehicle.”

As an example of a simplistic determination which may be performed bythe heuristics engine to determine a rough location of the mobile devicewithin the interior of the vehicle, the difference in bump angle and thedifference in the bump magnitude may indicate an approximate position ofthe mobile device relative to the center of gravity of the vehicle, asdiscussed above with reference to FIGS. 3-5.

In some aspects, the received data may indicate a strong lateral orleft/right (Y-axis) movement. Accordingly, in some aspects in step 835and 860 a third and fourth bump vector using the Y-axis component may becalculated. For example, this calculation of the third and fourth bumpvector may include calculating a bump magnitude by taking a left/rightvector and dot product multiplying with the down vector (Z-axis), andperforming a corresponding calculation of the arctangent of the ratio ofthe Y-axis vector and the Z-axis vector (e.g., arctan(Y/Z)) may resultin the third and fourth bump angle. These additional bump vectors ortheir components may be used by the heuristics engine to determine theposition. For example, a first bump may have a strong +Y component, andthe second bump may have no Y component or a strong −Y component, whichmay indicate that the mobile device may be located on the right side ofthe vehicle or its center of gravity.

Based on the determination of the position of the mobile device, one ormore actions may be performed in step 880. These actions are similar tothose discussed above with respect to FIGS. 6A and 6B and may includeactions which configure the mobile device and/or the vehicle, such asproviding a notification to the mobile device (e.g., displaying awarning on a display of the mobile device), deactivating a feature ofthe mobile device (e.g., disabling a text messaging application),providing a notification to the vehicle (e.g., displaying or enabling avisual or audio notification indicating that the mobile device has beendetected in the area of the driver's seat and will be silenced while thevehicle is in motion), causing the activation or deactivation of afeature of the vehicle (e.g., enabling a BLUETOOTH transceiver, turningon lane assist functionality if disabled), transmitting a notificationto a third party (e.g., transmitting a notification to an insuranceservice or insurance application indicating that a mobile device may bebeing used by a vehicle operator) and so on. Alternatively, otheractions may be taken when the device is not located in the driver'sarea: for example, the activation or reactivation of features or thetransmitting of a notification to a third party (e.g., transmitting anotification to an insurance service indicating that the vehicleoperator is not using the mobile device).

The following discussion provides examples of implementations of thesystems and methods described herein. They are merely some examples andare not intended to limit the systems and methods described herein.

In one example, one or more of the devices and systems described hereinmay determine a position of a smartphone mobile device within a vehicleinterior. The smartphone may have an accelerometer, as discussed above,and may experience acceleration as one or more tires of the vehicles hitbumps in the road surface. Each time the vehicle hits a bump, thesmartphone may move up or down, left or right, and/or frontwards orbackwards (relative to the center of the vehicle). This movement may beexamined as a single vector having a magnitude and angle. If the vehiclehits the same bump within a certain amount of time, hitting the secondbump may cause different movement in the three axes, which may becombined into a second vector having a second magnitude and angle. Thedifferences between the angles and the differences between themagnitudes of the vectors may be calculated; the result may be used todetermine a position of the smartphone within the interior. For example,if the first magnitude is greater than the second magnitude, thesmartphone may be closer to the tire where the first bump was felt. Thecalculated position may be translated to an estimated actual locationwithin the vehicle (e.g., driver's seat, backseat, front passenger seat,trunk, glove compartment). In some aspects, this may be determining aquadrant of the vehicle based on the magnitude and angle: any vectorresulting from the comparison which has positive magnitude towards theleft of the vehicle may indicate the smartphone is in a left frontquadrant, which may be a driver's seat in the United States, forexample. Depending on where the estimated location is, smartphonefunctionality may be enabled or disabled. For example, if the device isnear the driver's seat, the smartphone may disable text messagingapplications, social media applications, and calling in a hand-heldmode. Alternatively, the smartphone may enable hands-free mode. If thedevice is in a non-driver's seat quadrant, device functionality mightnot be disabled, as the position of the smartphone may indicate that apassenger is using the device. Instead of disabling functionality whenthe phone is in a non-driver's seat quadrant, a dismissible notificationmay be presented to the user indicating that the device should not beoperated while driving. In some examples, the smartphone may send datato a vehicle computer to deter use of the smartphone, such as sendingmap or route data to a vehicle GPS receiver so the smartphone may bestored out of sight or reach. In some examples, the smartphone and/orthe vehicle may transmit the data to a remote server.

In another example, accelerometer data from a smartphone may be comparedto accelerometer data from an accelerometer located on the vehicle, suchas in the interior or at a wheel. Again, when the vehicle hits a bump,both the vehicle and the smartphone may move up or down, left or right,and/or frontwards or backwards. Data from the bump as felt by thevehicle accelerometer may be compared to data from the bump as felt bythe smartphone. Other information may be used as part of a heuristicscalculation: for example, how many seatbelts are engaged, how muchweight is in the front passenger seat, is the smartphone hearing a turnsignal, what doors were opened before the vehicle was turned on, and soon. Based on the data from the accelerometers and the additional data,the device locating computing device may estimate the location of thesmartphone within the interior. The estimated location may betransmitted to a remote server operated by an insurance provider forfurther processing and/or business decision-making, such as an adjustingof an insurance rate or sending an e-mail to the driver to practice safedriving habits.

While the aspects described herein have been discussed with respect tospecific examples including various modes of carrying out aspects of thedisclosure, those skilled in the art will appreciate that there arenumerous variations and permutations of the above described systems andtechniques that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A location analysis computing device comprising:a processing unit comprising at least one processor; and a memory unitstoring computer-executable instructions, which when executed by theprocessing unit, cause the location analysis computing device to:receive vehicle sensor data collected by sensors of a vehicle, thevehicle sensor data comprising accelerometer data; detect a firstoccurrence of an event in the vehicle sensor data, wherein detecting thefirst occurrence of the event comprises determining that a first changein a magnitude of the accelerometer data exceeds a first predeterminedthreshold; receive mobile device sensor data collected by sensors of amobile device located within the vehicle, the mobile device sensor datacomprising further accelerometer data; detect a second occurrence of theevent in the mobile device sensor data; calculate, based on the detectedfirst occurrence of the event, a first occurrence vector comprising afirst occurrence magnitude and a first occurrence angle; calculate,based on the detected second occurrence of the event, a secondoccurrence vector comprising a second occurrence magnitude and a secondoccurrence angle; compare the calculated first occurrence vector and thecalculated second occurrence vector; and determine, based on thecomparison, a position of the mobile device within the vehicle.
 2. Thelocation analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein comparing thecalculated first occurrence vector and the calculated second occurrencevector comprises determining a difference between the calculated firstoccurrence vector and the calculated second occurrence vector, whereinthe difference between the calculated first occurrence vector and thecalculated second occurrence vector comprises a difference in the firstoccurrence magnitude and the first occurrence angle and the secondoccurrence magnitude and the second occurrence angle, respectively. 3.The location analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein the vehicleincludes a first tire and a second tire, wherein the first occurrence ofthe event comprises the first tire hitting a bump in a road, and whereinthe second occurrence of the event comprises the second tire hitting asame bump in the road.
 4. The location analysis computing device ofclaim 3, wherein the memory unit stores further computer-readableinstructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause thelocation analysis computing device to: determine the second tire hitsthe same bump, based on a determination that a difference between thecalculated first occurrence vector and the calculated second occurrencevector meets a third predetermined threshold.
 5. The location analysiscomputing device of claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores furthercomputer-readable instructions which, when executed by the processingunit, cause the location analysis computing device to transmit, to acomputing device other than the mobile device, an indication of theposition of the mobile device.
 6. The location analysis computing deviceof claim 1, wherein the memory unit stores further computer-readableinstructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause thelocation analysis computing device to: transmit, to the mobile device, acommand configured to deactivate a functionality of the mobile device.7. The location analysis computing device of claim 1, wherein detectingthe second occurrence of the event comprises determining that a secondchange in a magnitude of the further accelerometer data exceeds a secondpredetermined threshold.
 8. The location analysis computing device ofclaim 1, wherein determining, based on the comparison, the position ofthe mobile device within the vehicle comprises: determining, based onthe comparison, an occurrence vector of the calculated first occurrencevector and the calculated second occurrence vector comprising a greatermagnitude or a larger angle; and determining, based on the determinedoccurrence vector comprising the greater magnitude or the larger angle,the position of the mobile device within the vehicle.
 9. A methodcomprising: receiving vehicle sensor data collected by sensors of avehicle, the vehicle sensor data comprising accelerometer data;detecting a first occurrence of an event in the vehicle sensor data,wherein detecting the first occurrence of the event comprisesdetermining that a first change in a magnitude of the accelerometer dataexceeds a first predetermined threshold; receiving mobile device sensordata collected by sensors of a mobile device located within the vehicle,the mobile device sensor data comprising further accelerometer data;detecting a second occurrence of the event in the mobile device sensordata; calculating, based on the detected first occurrence of the event,a first occurrence vector comprising a first occurrence magnitude and afirst occurrence angle; calculating, based on the detected secondoccurrence of the event, a second occurrence vector comprising a secondoccurrence magnitude and a second occurrence angle; comparing thecalculated first occurrence vector and the calculated second occurrencevector; and determining, based on the comparison, a position of themobile device within the vehicle.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereincomparing the calculated first occurrence vector and the calculatedsecond occurrence vector comprises determining a difference between thecalculated first occurrence vector and the calculated second occurrencevector, wherein the difference between the calculated first occurrencevector and the calculated second occurrence vector comprises adifference in the first occurrence magnitude and the first occurrenceangle and the second occurrence magnitude and the second occurrenceangle, respectively.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the vehicleincludes a first tire and a second tire, wherein the first occurrence ofthe event comprises the first tire hitting a bump in a road, and whereinthe second occurrence of the event comprises the second tire hitting asame bump in the road.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:determining the second tire hits the same bump, based on a determinationthat a difference between the calculated first occurrence vector and thecalculated second occurrence vector meets a third predeterminedthreshold.
 13. The method of claim 9, further comprising: transmitting,to a computing device other than the mobile device, an indication of theposition of the mobile device.
 14. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: transmitting, to the mobile device, a command configured todeactivate a functionality of the mobile device.
 15. The method of claim9, wherein detecting the second occurrence of the event comprisesdetermining that a second change in a magnitude of the furtheraccelerometer data exceeds a second predetermined threshold.
 16. Themethod of claim 9, wherein determining, based on the comparison, theposition of the mobile device within the vehicle comprises: determining,based on the comparison, an occurrence vector of the calculated firstoccurrence vector and the calculated second occurrence vector comprisinga greater magnitude or a larger angle; and determining, based on thedetermined occurrence vector comprising the greater magnitude or thelarger angle, the position of the mobile device within the vehicle. 17.A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing instructions,which when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause thecomputing device to: receive vehicle sensor data collected by sensors ofa vehicle, the vehicle sensor data comprising accelerometer data; detecta first occurrence of an event in the translated vehicle sensor data,wherein detecting the first occurrence of the event comprisesdetermining that a first change in a magnitude of the accelerometer dataexceeds a first predetermined threshold; receive mobile device sensordata collected by sensors of a mobile device located within the vehicle,the mobile device sensor data comprising further accelerometer data;detect a second occurrence of the event in the mobile device sensordata; calculate, based on the detected first occurrence of the event, afirst occurrence vector comprising a first occurrence magnitude and afirst occurrence angle; calculate, based on the detected secondoccurrence of the event, a second occurrence vector comprising a secondoccurrence magnitude and a second occurrence angle; compare thecalculated first occurrence vector and the calculated second occurrencevector; and determine, based on the comparison, a position of the mobiledevice within the vehicle.
 18. The non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium of claim 17, wherein comparing the calculated firstoccurrence vector and the calculated second occurrence vector comprisesdetermining a difference between the calculated first occurrence vectorand the calculated second occurrence vector, wherein the differencebetween the calculated first occurrence vector and the calculated secondoccurrence vector comprises a difference in the first occurrencemagnitude and the first occurrence angle and the second occurrencemagnitude and the second occurrence angle, respectively.
 19. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, whereinthe vehicle includes a first tire and a second tire, wherein the firstoccurrence of the event comprises the first tire hitting a bump in aroad and the second occurrence of the event comprises the second tirehitting a same bump in the road, and wherein a determination that thesecond tire hits the same bump in the road is based on a determinationthat a difference between the calculated first occurrence vector and thecalculated second occurrence vector meets a third predeterminedthreshold.
 20. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 17, storing further instructions which, when executed by theprocessor of the computing device, cause the computing device to:transmit, to the mobile device, a command configured to deactivate afunctionality of the mobile device.